Tube surfers: The young stars that are taking over YouTube

Here at ToyNews, we like connecting people and while the conversation around the rise of YouTube influencers appears to be hot topic this month, Laura Edwards, commercial director at the talent management firm, Viral Talent talks us through the importance of nurturing the new online stars of today.

Over the last two years, we have seen children who have been watching their YouTube idols now take the role of influencer and launching their own channels with incredible results.

These ‘Kidfluencers’ are taking YouTube by storm and generating their own community of loyal fans. The enjoyment of ‘kids watching kids’ is now very prominent in the way children are now consuming content from brands.

This is highlighted via viewership figures, a key example of this is Tiana from Toys AndMe. She has generated 3.2 billion lifetime views on her channel, while Zoella has generated just over 1.5 billion views over her two channels in her YouTube lifetime.

With the rise of toy channels, kids’ parodies and kids’ gaming channels, these young YouTube stars are now generating huge interest from toy brands to expose their products through a story to their fans via vlogs and other social channels, such as PopJam.

Zenith Media’s new Advertising Expenditure Forecasts report has predicted the fastest growing component of internet ad spend will be social media, which will grow at an average rate of 20 per cent a year to 2019 when it will hit a whopping £43.8bn.

Through marketing and advertising with Kidfluencers, it’s crucial that brands choose the right YouTube channel and talent, this is where Viral Talent has many young influencers on its books such as Toys AndMe (4.6m subs), Tekkerz Kid (341k subs), EmilyTube (2.8m) and Gorgeous Movies (548k). We work closely with the young talent, their parents and brands to ensure that sponsored content reaches maximum efficiency and authenticity that engages with their specific targeted kids’ audience.